ANTELOPES. 293 



brought to me, and which never could stand in the house. 

 It had not been hurt, but the instant it was put upon 

 its legs it slipped about, and I was told this species 

 always did so. I fed it, carried it about, and it was very 

 gentle, and began to know me, though still wild. It 

 died at the end of a fortnight in strong convulsions. 



Antelopes are exclusively inhabitants of the Old 

 World ; and some idea may be formed of their immense 

 numbers in South Africa, where the species are most 

 varied and powerful, by reading the following quota- 

 tions from Mr. Pringle and Mr. Gordon Cu mining. 

 The former says : ' We pursued our journey over ex- 

 tensive plains, still parched by severe drought, and 

 undulating heights clothed with a brown and scanty 

 herbage, and sprinkled over with numerous herds of 

 springbok. Near the banks of the Little Fish river, 

 so numerous were these herds that they literally 

 speckled the face of the country as far as the eye could 

 reach, insomuch that we calculated we had sometimes 

 within view not less than 20,000 of these beautiful 

 animals. As we galloped on, they bounded off con- 

 tinually on either side, with the velocity from which 

 they derive their colonial appellation. They were pro- 

 bably part of one of the great migratory swarms which, 

 after long-continued droughts, sometimes inundate the 

 colony from the northern wastes.' 



Mr. Gumming informs us that, ' when pursued, the 

 springboks jump up into the air ten or twelve feet, for 

 which they curve their loins, rise perpendicularly, and 

 the long white hair on their haunches and back floats 

 about ; they pass over a space of twelve or fifteen 

 feet, come down, then rise again ; and, after doing this 

 several times, they bound off, arch their necks, then 



